Laredo

Laredo is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas. It was founded by the Spanish in 1755 as the Villa de San Agustin de Laredo, named for Saint Augustine of Hippo and Laredo, Cantabria, Spain. In 1840, Laredo became the capital of the independent Republic of the Rio Grande during the Mexican Federalist War, but the Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna reconquered the breakaway state. In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, the town was occupied by Texas Rangers, and, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo led to Laredo becoming a part of the United States, some of its Mexican inhabitants crossed the Rio Grande and founded the Mexican town of Nuevo Laredo. In 1852, Laredo was rechartered as a city, and it became one of the oldest crossing points along the US-Mexico border. In 2010, Laredo had a population of 235,809 people and 259,172 in its metro area.